Which GFX card?

[glHalfLife]

The choices are:

ATI 256MB 9800 Pro
ATI 256MB 9800 XT
ATI 256MB X800 Pro
ATI 256MB X800 XT

What do you guys think?

 

[KidRock]

Are you stupid? X800XT of course..noob.

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

x800xt. the best performance (also the most expensive but you did not mention any money boundaries)

 

[Hazar]

Uhh, are you trying to be stupid or what?

 

[m3ta1head]

Uhh, are you trying to be stupid or what?

maybe he's a n00b? :hmph:

 

[ailevation]

Get the 9800 Pro.

 

[Ecthe|ioN]

x800 xt (pe)

 

[glHalfLife]

ok, ok, enough of the ranting. I should have given more details, I thought you guys were good at interpreting after all the years listening to VALVe's news? (j/k) hehe

Well, I have a GF 4200 128MB card atm and are looking to spend between £200 ($360) and £300 ($530). The X800 XT looks a bit expensive atm, while I am not sure about the 9800 Pro's performance on up and coming games. Therefore, I would just like your opinions on the ATI 256MB 9800XT and 256MB X800 Pro.

:afro:

 

[Asus]

The X800pro would be a very good buy.
If you have a taste for more performance you could buy a Vivo version, which has all 16 pipelines unlocked but not in use, and flash it to an X800 XT PE.

The 9800XT is too much $$ for it's performance, which is why people recommended the 9800Pro.

 

[snak3y3z1001]

6800 gt

 

[ATI4EVER!]

jesus christ. None of you asked for his specs!?!??!

What are your specs (cpu and ram especially)

Really any 9800 series card is good.

 

[m3ta1head]

jesus christ. None of you asked for his specs!?!??!

What are your specs (cpu and ram especially)

Really any 9800 series card is good.

not the SE :dork:

 

[Gunsnroses]

I stand by my 5900xt

 

[johnnypoopoopant]

xt pe if u have the money if not get the x800 pro

 

[blackeye]

Why no nvidia? Did you have bad experiences with them befor or do you just want the extra 5-10% in half life 2?

 

[Champ]

Which won't matter when Nvidia releases a driver fixing the lead ATI has.

Get either the Nvidia 6800 GT or the X800 Pro.

 

[glHalfLife]

I have not had a bad experience with nVidia cards, its just that I have heard good things about ATI's newer cards and bad things about the 6800's needing extra power and fans bigger than my dyson hoover (and sound just as loud)

My specs are printed below.

 

[gegam]

Are you stupid? X800XT of course..noob.

roflamo, seriously, roflamo, im not kidding, roflamo.

 

[ATI4EVER!]

OK well....here is something i have posted before...READ IT! very helpfull!!

I am the master at explaining how this stuff works. At least i think so. Peple normally write to me asking. So here: (I am so sick of posting this on so many threads)

Videocards opperate by Pipelines, much like your CPU. Videocard pipelines are very very deep and wide. The 9600xt features 4 of these pipelines, the 9800 features 8, the x800 12 and the 6800 16. Holy crap. That is a lot. Now you ask "so what?". Well when your videocard draws out something, it has to pass through the pipelines (the rule of thumb is more pipelines usually is faster) so if you have say 16 pipelines, it will do the work faster than if you have 4 pipelines. Now, these pipelines are beeing feeded by the CPU (your 1.2ghz athlon). If you have an 8 pipeline videocard with a crappy cpu, the cpu won't be able to issue enough instructions to the videocard. Pipelines are REQUIRED to be full at all costs, if they are not, all work that is currently in the pipeline will be tossed out and it has to start all over again, this results in lost clock cycles, you prbably loose some 40fps for 2 seconds. This could happen with the fastest CPU on the planet, and a 4 pipeline videocard, if the cpu messes up or something, it is very rare and it would only last 2 seconds. BUT.. if you have a 8 pipeline vodeocard with your cpu it will happen very very often.

Here is a little thing i made up myself to guide you.

4 pipeline: 1.8ghz P4 or AMD equivelent
8 pipeline: 2.4ghz P4 (w/HT) or AMD equivalent
12 pipeline: 3.0ghz P4 (w/HT) or an athlon 64 (any speed)
16 pipeline: 3.0ghz P4 (w/ HT Preferably extreme edition) or Athlon 64FX 51

Ram also matters, when i bought my 9600XT i had 256mb ram, it SUCKED. I upgraded and bought a stick of 512 mb, that helped alot.

generally you should always have at least 512 mb.

I hoped this helped.

 

[ATI4EVER!]

so....in other words get the 9800pro. Suites u best.

 

[Vigilante]

I have not had a bad experience with nVidia cards, its just that I have heard good things about ATI's newer cards and bad things about the 6800's needing extra power and fans bigger than my dyson hoover (and sound just as loud)

My specs are printed below.

The 6800s need more power but are better than the x800s. I think nvidia current generation cards are better. I'd get a 6800 gt if I were you.

 

[RussianEmpire]

i would get a 6800 128 mb cause i got 10024 on the 3DMARK03
and ~3,600 on the 3dmark05

 

[Play4Fun]

roflamo, seriously, roflamo, im not kidding, roflamo.

It should be roflmao (Rolling On Floor Laughing My Ass Off)

 

[blackeye]

I have not had a bad experience with nVidia cards, its just that I have heard good things about ATI's newer cards and bad things about the 6800's needing extra power and fans bigger than my dyson hoover (and sound just as loud)

My specs are printed below.

I would just like to clarify things once and for all on these forums. Nvidia does not need a 480 watt powersupply to run its cards. They have tweaked a couple bios settings and brought the minimum recuirments down and it is able to run on 350watts. Infact the current 6800's use less power then nvidias previous FX series of cards. Two molex connectors are not required to run the card. Only one is needed if you are not overclocking. I am using two molex connectors because I am overclocking my videocard.
I would also Like to point out that while the card does take up two slots its not a big deal for most cases and motherboards. I have a audigy and a vantec spectrum in my PCI slots and the card still fits with two PCI slots left over. The videocard is not noisy at all. I find it very quiet. But I guess most people would have to judge that by themselves. Asus has one so I guess whoever is interested could also ask for his opinion.

But For the videocard you are getting the 9800 pro would probably be a better buy just because you CPU is holding you back. The 6800 (non-ultra) would perform similarly to a 9800 pro and im some cases better, and I think they are single slot if that is really that big of a deal to you.